Generation X Perspectives: When Are We?
Weekend posts I tend to be all over the map, culture, rants or whatever; I like to leave the music business writings for the weekdays where I feel they will have more impact. I’ve been thinking about focusing the Sunday post as the view from the 30s or Generation X perspectives. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for quite a while and now I have an outlet with an audience (I hope). I think it would be a great experience overall and we might learn something new. I want this to be something where not only do I write about my perspective, ideas and experiences but something that I hope my readers (meaning you) would contribute to the discussion with their view point and experiences regardless of what ever generation you're a part of.
So with that we begin with the first topic: define what is “Generation X”. Yes, this is a very big topic. Yes, its been analyzed to death. Not in a marketing sense but more self exploration. Let's begin with the actual year range as described in my favorite online encyclopedia, Wikipedia:
Typically, people born between 1965 and 1978 are generally considered "Generation X," while others use the term to describe anyone who was in their 20s some time during the 1990s. [1] According to Neil Howe and William Strauss, Generation X includes anyone born from 1961 to 1981 in the United States. The term is used in demography, the social sciences, and marketing, though it is most often used in popular culture.
I would be considered right smack in the middle with that description at my age of 32. Before I read anything about actual range I always thought it was 1960 through 1975ish which wasn't so far off. I never really cared to learn when the previous or next generations began or ended. Do normal people really care or is it just a marketing thing? The non-business world doesn't have to slice and dice people or societies in order continue from day to day. Do they?
Before reading this article or the Wikipedia entry what is the age range that you defined guessed as “Generation X” and what is your reasoning behind it? Is there is an experience that shaped that viewpoint? How about the Baby Boomers or Generation Y?
Email me via the contact form or leave a comment. Then next week hopefully I’ll have something from you to contribute to the next post.
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Comments
We should see ourselves based on tendencies and traits, not age.
Its really hard to judge a book by a cover, which is esentially what we are doing when we decide what generation people are in based on range, and then automatically assigning them with certain traits and characteristics that coincide with their label. What we are really comparing here is apples to oranges.
What we should be doing is judging people based on their traits and tendencies and THEN inserting them into a particular generational slot.
My company has created a profile that does this. By answering a few simple questions, you can see what generation you truly belong to, and then determine what types of people you actually associate with in the first place. The results might astonish you.
http://www.generationalprofiles.com/myprofile/index.cfm